
, '"'1 




Class ^"RTTSZ. 

Book Ji3 

Copyright }^"__ J. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 



BT THE SAME AUTHOR 

POEMS. 2 vols. Cloth, $2.50 net. 
Photogravure portrait. Half-morocco, ^8.00 
net. Postage, 20 cents. 

NEW POEMS. Cloth, 51.50 net. Half- 
morocco, ^5.00 net. Postage, 12 cents. 

SELECTED POEMS. This volume 
has been issued in lieu of "The Collected 
Poems," now out of print. It is compiled 
from the foregoing volumes. Cloth, ^1.25 
net. Postage, 8 cents. 




WILLIAM WATSON 



THE HERALDS 
OF THE DAWN 

A PLAY IN EIGHT SCENES 

BY 

WILLIAM WATSON 



NEW YORK 

JOHN LANE COMPANY 

MCMXII 






Copyright, 1917 
By John Lane Company 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 



gCl.A309534 



ro MY WIFE, 

but for whom it would not have been written, 

I dedicate this play. 

w. w. 

Nenv York 

Feb. lo, igi2 



DRAMATIS PERSON.E 

MEN 

Clotaire King of Ideonia 

Prince Hesperus The King's Son 

POLITIAN 1 

Parmenio y Ministers of State 

Erminius J 

VoLMAR Commander of the Army 

HiLDERic One of Volmar's Captains 

Petrus A Judge 

Brasidas A Leader of the People 

Abbo of the Woods .... A Hunter and Trapper 

Garlic 

Puncheon 

WOMEN 
Queen Adalind Venora 

Zoraya 
Guards, soldiers, attendants, ushers, and others. 



SCENE: — At First the Borders of Ideonia; 
Afterwards, Phantasmopol, the Capitol. 

TIME: — The Morrow of Antiquity. 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 



THE 
HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

A PLAY IN EIGHT SCENES 

SCENE I 

Folmar's camp among the woods on the borders of 
Ideonia. 

Night-time. Beside a stream, Volmar's tent. 
VoLMAR. HiLDERic. A Sentinel Further off, 
soldiers sleeping on the ground. 

VOLMAR 

To-day six months ago, good Hilderic, 

We camped at this same place on the outward 

march, 
And had our first brush with the enemy. 
It seemed as if each tuft of waving grass. 
And every bramble and whin-bush, hid a foe. 
Where are they now? » 

HILDERIC 

We left them to the kite 
And warhawk, and the grey wolf of the wood. 

II 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

V O L M A R 

This stream, that looks so humble a rillet, marks 
The boundary 'twixt their country and our own. 
Here is our native soil, our fatherland, — 
There, Hilderic, the Kingdom we have conquered. 

HILDERIC 

This brook ran red that night thou speakest of. 

V o L M A R 

Ay, it did so! But Nature soon enough 

Washes her hands of us and all we do. 

To-night the stream runs clear as hermit's spring, 

And when I drank of it this afternoon 

It had no taste of slaughter. — Thou hast now 

Three hours for sleep, and then at dawn we march. 

HILDERIC 

For home! 

V O L M A R 

For home! Goodnight. 

HILDERIC 

Goodnight, my lord. 
(Exit Hilderic. Volmar goes into his tent, lies 
down and falls asleep. Enter, stealthily, from 
a thicket on the further side of the stream, Abbo 
of the Woods. The sentinel leans against a ledge 
of rock, nods and dozes.) 

12 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

A B B O 

So this is how their lordly one is guarded — 
The sentry drowsed and nodding at his post! 
I 've slipped past all the others, and unseen 
Have threaded these dark woodlands, where I know 
Each tree and stone, and every cleft and cave. 
Now in his tent the general is asleep. 
I do not doubt but that he sleeps as well 
As if he had not on his soul one sin: 
The wicked sleep as soundly as the good. 
Yea, it is not the Wronger, but the Wronged, 
That lies awake with raging thoughts, as I 
So oft have done. If I can reach him now — 
One stroke — and I shall be avenged upon him, 
And the next moment, in another world. 
He 's cringing for God's mercy. Then — what then f 
If I should fall alive into their hands? 
They '11 cut and carve me out of human shape, 
And laugh as they look on. I '11 hazard it. 
(Abbo moves forward to cross the stream. A loose 
stone slips from under his foot with a loud 
noise. The sentinel looks up. Other soldiers 
start from their sleep on the ground. Volmar 
raises his head and listens. Abbo, unper- 
ceivedf draws back into the thicket.) 



13 



SCENE II 

A street. On the left^ the King's palace, ap- 
proached by a flight of steps. On the right, 
at a little distance, a fortress-prison. Brasidas. 
Puncheon. Garlic. Numerous citizens of various 
grade. A cripple. A beggar. 

BRASIDAS 

This will I say: the war, that now hath clanged 
And thundered to its end, I loved not greatly; 
But its rich fruits, whether indeed they do us 
Much honour in the harvesting or no, 
Will fill the royal treasury to o'erflowing. 
And leave small pretext for those cruel exactions 
Whereby your substance is so taxed away. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

They tax our corn, oil, timber, metals, wool — 
They tax our wine — 

PUNCHEON 

Ay, there's a grievous impost — 
A duty on good-fellowship, wit, and joy. 

14 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

FIRST CITIZEN 

How if the soldiers bring more glory home 
Than booty? 

B R A s I D A s 
There '11 be waggon-loads of both, 
In endless train choking the frantic streets, 
Hour by mad hour. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

May all be well! Yet somehow 
There's nothing prancing in men's hearts. 

CRIPPLE 

Last night 
A star fell like a torch through the lit sky. 

THIRD CITIZEN 

They say that from his bedchamber the King 
Saw It, and fearing much what it might bode 
Could sleep no more. 

BRASIDAS 

Uneasy consciences 
Take fright at lesser things than falling stars. 

FOURTH CITIZEN 

Bold words, in such a place! If we had said them. 
Yon bastille were our lodging. 

15 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

BRASIDAS 

Well, God knows, 
Its black and hungry mouth may soon enough 
Gape for me too. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Nay, Brasidas in prison 
Would as a martyr be more formidable 
Than Brasidas free, and therein lies thy safety. 

FIRST ARTISAN 

Make way there for the lord Parmenio. 

{Enter Parmenio, going towards the palace steps.) 

FIRST ARTISAN 

My lord, what of the bread-tax? 

second ARTISAN 

And the salt-tax? 

THIRD ARTISAN 

Ay, and the poll-tax? 

FOURTH ARTISAN 

And the hearth-tax? 
i6 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

FIRST ARTISAN 

Are 

These to be done away with? or the burden 
A little better suited to the back? 

PUNCHEON 

What of those crushing wine-duties, my lord? 

BEGGAR 

We've heard that doles and bounties are to be 
Given to the poor. 

GARLIC 

And the deserving idle. 

FIRST ARTISAN 

Silence, thou simpleton. 

SECOND ARTISAN 

Is it true our debts 
Are to be blotted out? 

BEGGAR 

Are prisoned folk 
To have their liberty? 

GARLIC 

And old oflfenders 
To be rewarded? 

17 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

THIRD ARTISAN 

Fool, tie up thy tongue. 

FOURTH ARTISAN 

Shall we have cheaper food? 



FIRST ARTISAN 

And cheaper justice? 

(Parmenio, havi7ig ascended the palace steps, 
pauses at the threshold and faces his inter- 
rogators.) 

PARMENIO 

Good people, is It seemly, at the King's 
Own door, to pelt me with your questions thus? 
I go to him even now, that I may learn 
From his own mouth his full and fixed intent 
Touching the things you speak of, and to-morrow 
Yourselves shall learn it too. 



FIRST CITIZEN 

Give us to-day 
At least an inkling of it. We all know 
That you live close to the King's mind. 



i8 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

PARMENIO 

A King's 
Mind Is so sentinelled and guarded, one 
May live hard by it and ne'er have seen within. 
Yet, as I would not you should go away 
Famished for news, such knowledge as is mine 
I will impart. 'T Is known to you already 
That any day, and almost any hour, 
May witness the return of glorious Volmar, 
Our greatest soldier, and perfect flower of war. 
From conquest of the hereditary foe, 
Bringing his captives with him, and his spoil. 
Trophies, and treasure. Now the King intends 
That this same treasure, which is rumoured vast. 
Shall be applied to the easing of that burden. 
That hard load of taxation, borne by you 
Not without murmur, and upon you laid 
With most reluctant hand. And furthermore. 
From the proud hour of Volmar's homecoming, 
The King ordains a seven days' festival 
For all his people, his own revenue 
To bear the cost. Lastly, so royal are 
The scope and range of his benevolence, 
He will decree the pardon and release 
Of all such men in prison — 

(hesitating) 
19 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

POLITIAN 

{coming from within the palace and standing be- 
side Parmenio) 

As may be freed 
With safety to the state. 

PARMENIO 

Ev'n so, my lord 
Polltian. Now, good people, you have heard 
The King's benign intentions. Go you therefore 
To your own homes, with loyal and pious hearts. 
Thanking yon Heaven that hath so blessed our 
arms. 

{Exit Politian) 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Long live the King. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Long live the Count Parmenio. 

FIRST ARTISAN 

Taxation abolished! 

THIRD CITIZEN 

Nay, nay, not so fast. 
20 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

GARLIC 

A seven weeks' feast! 

SECOND ARTISAN 

Seven days, old maunderer. 

THIRD ARTISAN 

Come, let us spread the news. 

PUNCHEON 

If they '11 repeal 
Those taxes on conviviality — 

SECOND ARTISAN 

Yes, let us spread the news. 'T is a great day. 

GARLIC 

There has not been its like since the millennium. 

(Exeunt Garlic and Puncheon. Others, on the 

point of going, remain when Brasidas speaks.) 

B R A S I D A S 

Honoured Parmenio, you are known to all 
As one not hard to approach, when men crave light 
On things that touch their bosoms. Will you 
tell us 

21 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

What order of offenders these may be, 
For whom their prison doors are to fly open? 
The common felon? the prowling man of prey? 
The cutpurse and the cut-throat? Is it to these 
You'll grant a new lease of the sun and sky? 

P A R M E N I O 

Brasidas, they whose judgment guides this realm 

Allow you a large liberty of speech: 

Allow to them some liberty of silence. 

In statecraft there are things that cannot be 

As public as a peepshow at a fair. 

The council chamber of a King is secret, 

Even as the heart and inwards of thy body 

Are secret. To uncover their hid workings 

Were to destroy thee, body and heart and all. 

BRASIDAS 

Oh, there 's a world of secret things, my lord. 
You've touched not on; and since you will not 

tell me 
What men are to be freed, who then are they 
You mean to keep in bonds? Are they the 

wretches 
Denounced, in secret, for what cause we know not, 
And after secret trial hurried down 

22 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Where secret night hugs them with iron arms? 
'T is a plain question, worth a plain reply. 

P A R M E N I o 

You call your words a question: they are rather 
An accusation and a wild indictment 
Hurled against law and justice. 

B R A s I D A s 

Law and justice! 
When was I not the fieriest of their lovers? 
Those I indict are they that make the law 
A byword and a hissing. Turn not thou 
Away, but hear me. In yon prison-house 
My father suffers for a deed he did not, 
And there is he in fetters, where this light 
We call impartial sends him scarce a beam. 
Oh, justice is a word that you keep near you, 
But she, Justice herself, hath long been banished. 
And somewhere far from all the abodes of Law 
Her place of exile is. 

PARMENIO 

Your private griefs 
Are known, and in some measure may be held 
To excuse the violence of your tongue. But try not 

23, 



*> 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

The patience of Authority too far. 
Insulted Power can any time cut short 
The freedom you misuse. 

BRASIDAS 

I do defy it 
To lay a hand upon me. With a signal 
I could call forth a host as from the ground, 
Who, if you dared to cast me in yon prison. 
Would batter down its walls founded in blood, 
Its doors dabbled with blood, its towers that rise 
Out of a fen and rank morass of blood, 
Unpacified blood, not to be quieted. 
Not to be put to sleep in the earth at all. 
(Exit) 

PARMENIO 

A man so covered with a foam of words 
Proclaims himself bankrupt of argument. 
(Exit into palace) 

FIRST ARTISAN 

Well, that is as it may be. 

SECOND ARTISAN 

For my part, 
I think our Brasidas had the best of it. 

24 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

THIRD ARTISAN 

We could see plainly which one feared the other. 

A CITIZEN 

You all must own, Parmenio bears no blemish 
As husband, father, or friend. 



THIRD ARTISAN 

Why, there's an adage, 
'The greatest villains never break a law,' — 
Not that I hint at villainy in his lordship. 

FOURTH ARTISAN 

Come, let's remember in what place we stand. 
They say the gallows hath put some to silence 
Because they thought too loudly. 

{Re-enter Puncheon) 

FIFTH ARTISAN 

As for me, 
I 've a great mind to go about my business; 
For I begin to think that politics are 
A study should be left to learned men. 
Such as astronomers, and the best-born clergy. 

25 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

PUNCHEON 

There be few thirstier studies. It begets 
A marvellous great drouth in a man's throat. 

FIFTH ARTISAN 

My study is mending shoes. 

GARLIC 

Mend thou thy manners, 
And stand not gabbling 'neath the very nose 
Of greatness. Seest thou not yon lords.'' 

{Enter from the palace Politian and Parmenio, 
who stand in the doorway.) 

third artisan 

They look 
Severely on us. 

FOURTH ARTISAN 

Our free speech has been 
O'erheard. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

I am called hence on urgent business. 



26 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Mine own affairs press furiously. 

THIRD CITIZEN 

Mine, too, 
Call loudly for me. 

FOURTH CITIZEN 

Come, let us begone. 
{Exeunt all persons in the street. Politian and 
Parmenio descend the steps.) 

politian 
Mind you, I do not say that the belief 
In signs and omens and the like is nought 
But vulgar superstition; for indeed 
I never did deny that these things are. 
But why should we befog our intellects 
With such dark matters? Life is not too clear 
At broadest noonday, and these messages 
Dropt from the void are written in a cypher 
Of which we lack the key. 

parmenio 

True, true enough; 
But meet you not a strange mood in the land.'' 

27 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

No gaiety gambols by — and here and there 
Men congregate like birds that have forewarning 
Of dread events in Nature. 

P O L I T I A N 

We'll divert 
Their minds with shows and pageantry. Such toys 
Put that great babe, the People, in good humour. 

{Enter Zoraya) 
But who is this? Old as the cliffs she seems. 
Yet as unbowed as they are. What would'st 
thou with us.^ 

ZORAYA 

My errand is to speak unto the King. 

P O L I T I A N 

Impossible. He is sick, and hath much need 
Of slumber. 

ZORAYA 

They that sent me do not sleep. 

P O L I T I A N 

And who are they, good dame.^* 

28 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Z O R A Y A 

They are the Powers 
That spin the secret threads of life and death. 

PARMENIO 

Thou art she the people call the prophetess? 

Z O R A Y A 

Too great a title. I receive, at most, 
Blurred intimations of what is to be. 
I am tantalised with Heaven's half-confidences. 
I am hurt with flying splinters of the truth. 

PARMENIO 

Speak what thou knowest. If evil be at hand, 
Whom does it menace.^ 

Z O R A Y A 

I can only tell thee 
That doom hangs o'er this day, and here will fall. 
Nought more do I know. 

{Exit) 

PARMENIO 

She gives to it no form 
Our senses can lay hold on. 

29 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

P O L I T I A N 

For my palate, 
This diet is a thought too translunary. 
I have lived my life with things that can be 

touched, 
Tested, and weighed. 

PARMENIO 

Yet there are other things. 

p o L I T I A N 

Oh, there are things which better brains than 

mine 
Ere now have dashed themselves to pieces on; 
But if I break my pate, 't is little solace 
To have broken it sublimely, against the stars. 
Here our ways part — 

PARMENIO 

Until we meet again 
An hour past noon. 

POLITIAN 

That time when day, like me, 
Grows middle-aged and unromantical. 
(Exit) 
30 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

PARMENIO 

How covetable that strictly bounded mind, 
No shreds of twilight hanging loose upon it! 
Mine own leans out into the Dark, and so 
Hazards its very balance, in hope to catch 
The footfall of events ere they arrive. 
And from the Dark wins nothing. 'T is to no 

purpose 
One plays the eavesdropper about Fate's door. 
The servants there are incorruptible. 
And will not sell one secret to the world. 
(Exit) 



31 



SCENE III 

A room in the palace opening widely on a garden^ 
which lies in hrilliant sunshine. Parmenio alone. 
To him enter Politian. In the garden an aged 
gardener at work. 

POLITIAN 

Where is the Prince? 

PARMENIO 

Here I await him now, 
But he forgets. 

POLITIAN 

His studies more and more 
Engross him. History, poHty, jurisprudence — 
He takes them all as steps by which to mount 
Toward the crowning art of ruling men. 

PARMENIO 

He does not seem disdainful of the art 
Of wooing women. 

32 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

POLITIAN 

There I think he trusts 
Rather to Nature. Hark, I hear his foot. 

(Enter Prince Hesperus) 

P A R M E N I O 

Highness, what news of Volmar? 

HESPERUS 

He hath crossed 
The mountain ridge already. His messengers, 
Sent spurring on before him at the dawn, 
Have just arrived. Hither he marches slowly, 
Much cumbered with the greatness of his spoil, 
But ere the daylight droops it is believed 
He will be here. There is a grassy knoll 
From whose smooth shoulder he will first look 

down 
Upon the city. Then will his trumpeters 
Sound out their taratantara on the air. 
Blowing a silver salutation to us. 
All hath gone well — save only that I fear 
This sickness of the King will somewhat tarnish 
Our pomps, and give a greyness and a pallor 
To our rejoicings. 

33 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

PARMENIO 

But he hath great power 
Of rallying! Is he not in the garden? 

HESPERUS 

Ay, there 
My father sits, quite worn out with the chase. 

PARMENIO 

The chase? 

HESPERUS 

Three nights and days he hath htinted sleep, 
And still it flies and flies. 

{Enter Venora, followed hy a waiting maid carry- 
ing needlework^ 

venora 

Do I break in 
Upon high matters? 

HESPERUS 

Yes, sweet lady, you 
Break in upon them as the snowdrop breaks 
In upon January. 

34 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

V E N O R A 

I cannot do 
A stitch of this embroidery to-day; 
{to her maid) 

Yet leave it. {Exit maid) I have but one thought 

— a hero 
Comes homeward, beautiful with victory. 

p o L I T I A N 

A great and fair occasion. I remember 
One very different — the return of Rainald 
From miserable defeat. 

HESPERUS 

Him that was called 
A whirlwind on a warhorse in his day. 

V E N O R A 

A weeping welcome would be his, I doubt not. 

P O L I T I A N 

A silent one — save for a few that hissed. 

V E N O R A 

O shameful! I 'd have stripped the summer of all 
Its roses, to make sweet the ways for him. 

35 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

HESPERUS 

Alas, we oft are prone to do as they did: 

The man whom Fate hath scourged we scourge 

again. 
To-day let us forget these things. 

V E N O R A 

How darkly 
Yon cedar reaches out its solemn arms! 
I am a little sorry for the flowers 
That have to live so near it. Their gay thoughts 
Seem chidden and put down by its grave bearing, 
And for their sake I think that I could almost 
Wish it away. 

HESPERUS 

Ah, know you not its story.'' 
Then listen. It was mine ancestor Alexius, 
The founder of our house, who long ago 
Did with his own hand set that tree in earth; 
And 't is affirmed that our own royal fortunes 
Are with its life bound up: if it decay, 
We wither; while it flourishes we flourish; 
But when it dies we fall from sovereignty, 
And wear a crown no more. 



36 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

V E N O R A 

Then will we hope 
The tree keeps young in heart, for I have heard, 
That is the secret of long life in all things. 

{Enter, in the garden, the King.) 
Look where the King himself walks toward it. 

HESPERUS 

With what slow, feeble steps! 

V E N O R A 

Since I have been 
A guest within these walls, I never saw him 
Leaning upon his staff so wearily. 

KING 

{touching the tree caressingly) 
Still sound — still sound and hale. How many 

a time 
In troubled dreams have I beheld thee maimed, 
And stricken through with death! But in clear 

daylight 
Is not all well with thee.'' Art thou not full 
Of great desire to live for ages yet, 
And is not great desire strong as resolve.? 

37 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Oh, that I had some sovereign prophylactic, 
Able to drive far from thee all disease, 
And all decay for ever! 

HESPERUS 

Is It meet 
That we should gaze on his distempered mood? 



It is not kind. 



V E N O R A 



HESPERUS 

Let's forth Into the sun. 



KING 

{to the gardener) 
Fellow, what things In Nature may they be, 
What powers of earth or air, that most do threaten 
The life and welfare of a tree like this? 

GARDENER 

Why, King, a tree be in many ways "mightily 
like a man. Now If a man feed well, and live 
orderly, and keep a still mind, and have no very 
great shocks of trouble, he may come to a wonder- 
ful great age. And so Is it with trees. But there 

38 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

is the weevil, now, that eateth through the bark: 
unto the tree he is like gnawing care, cark and 
care, and in time he will let in death to the very 
heartwood. Then there be long droughts, where- 
by the tree is stinted of its right meat and drink: 
that is want — woful want — and good trees hath 
it killed. Then there are fell tempests also; 
these be great shocks, and they do not come 
and go without leaving their mark somewhere, 
though the eye may see it not. 

KING 

How long might this cedar yet live.'' 

GARDENER 

Why, King, that is most hard to tell. But it 
may live a long while yet, except it die suddenly 
by the act of God. 

KING 

What meanest thou.'* 

GARDENER 

I mean naught else but the lightning, the 
thunderbolt; for that is the act of God. 



39 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

KING 

Ay, truly. And if the lightning should split 
this trunk, I fall at one stroke from Kinghood to 
an estate which a beggar might despise. For then 
should I and mine in a moment be but as your 
mock princes, your hide-and-seek pretenders, that 
go pranked in a sort of out-at-elbow greatness, 
and posture through life, demanding the rever- 
ence no man pays, and for ever sighing over lost 
occasions; the very phantoms of majesty. To 
come to that in a twinkling! How terrible a 
thing may be the act of God! 

GARDENER 

Oho, there is rottenness in this branch. This 
in time would open the door to death. This 
bough must be lopped straightway. 

{Enter Queen in the garden) 

KING 

{The gardener lops the bough) — Hold, sirrah! 
Oh, what is this that thou hast done? 
I felt his blade strike through me here. 
{He staggers, the Queen supports him.) Queen! — 

wife! — 

40 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

What ruthless surgeon have they sent to me, 
That gashes me in the side, and leaves unstaunched 
The wound his bistoury gave? 

QUEEN 

Nay, King, thou hast 
No hurt at all. But thy long sleepless nights 
Have sorely jarred thy brain. The air to-day 
Is of a fevering heat in this closed garden. 
I know not if 't is good for thee. 

KING 

My mind 
Fell ghastly sick one moment; but thy voice 
Hath ever unto me a healing sound. 
And I am well again. 

QUEEN 

Let us go In. 

(They enter the palace. Enter from another side 
PoLiTiAN, Parmenio, and Erminius.) 

E RM I N I U S 

Your Grace, I have discovered and frustrated 
Yet one more foul design — these letters here 

41 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Attest its deadly nature — to subvert 
Your rule, and overthrow the throne itself. 

KING 

(glancing at papers) 
The air hums with conspiracies to uproot me. 

E R M I N I u s 

Sir, during this your ever blessed reign, 
I have unearthed in all ten several plots 
Against your Majesty's most sacred life. 

P O L I T I A N 

{aside) 
After inventing at least nine of them. 

E R M I N I u s 

I wait not the full hatching of these treasons. 
But crush them as it were in the very egg. 
Almost before there is — 

P O L I T I A N 

{aside) 

A hen to lay it. 



42 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

E R M I N I U S 

(to politian) 
My lord, I wish you nobler occupation 
Than piecing out another's sentences. 

POLITIAN 

Forgive me; it was a crude attempt to show 
How I esteem the diligence and despatch 
That under your direction have so marked 
Our judicature. 

E R M I N I u s 

If this be irony, 
I understand it not; for none denies 
That in our courts Conviction with all promptness 
Follows upon the heels of Accusation, 
While Execution lags not far behind. 

KING 

The authors of this plot — 

E R M I N I U S 

Are all in irons. 

KING 

Why is yon fellow Brasidas still at large? 
He brawls under my windows like a fishwife, 

43 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Hawking sedition of so rank an odour, 
Stale fish were lavender to it. 

E R M I N I u s 

Majesty, 
We do not think him dangerous. He has 
Indeed no following save a sort of men 
Whose thought will never ripen into action. 

KING 

Thought has been tolerated much too long. 
E R M I N I u s 

It is indeed most troublous. 

KING 

Look you to it 
That from to-morrow he be in safe keeping. 
We '11 see whether the chastening prison diet 
Give any touch of fine austerity 
To an eloquence a little overblown. 

E RM I N I U S 

Consider, sir, — at such a time, — the man 
Being so popular — 



44 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

POLITIAN 

And to do him justice 
He is rather a good quality of windbag. 

PARMENIO 

I have no cause to love him. But oft such 

men 
Are to the State as boiling springs to the 

earth, 
That vent her plethera and so cool her fever. 

KING 

Enough — enough — I see you are all in league 

With them that plot against me. It is to you 

I owe it that I cannot sleep i' the night 

For menacing voices, yea, and furtive hands, 

That draw aside the curtains of my bed, 

And only fail of their intent by some 

Mighty interposition. Get you gone 

Out of my house. What are you — counsellors.'' 

Counterfeits rather — mimes — semblances — 

spectres. 
Out of my house: is it not haunted enough 
Already.^ Go. 
{Exeunt Politian, Parmenio, and Erminius.) 



4.5 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

QUE EN 

Dear lord, these altercations 
Do only leave thee shattered. Put all discord 
Far from thy mind, and let us walk again 
Among the agreeing flowers. 

KING 

Presently 
I 'II to the garden with thee; and in truth 
My life is well-nigh bounded by its walls. 

{Paces the room, then pauses.) 
The air is very heavy and still. Almost 
Would night seem to have trespassed upon day, 
So dark it grows. 

{Enter Hesperus and Venora from the garden.) 

HESPERUS 

Dark? Doth he jest? If not. 
Then, in the name of sunlight and all splendour, 
What fantasy is this? Father, I think 
A brighter day never lit up the world. 

KING 

Have I no eyes? For all permitted uses 
I have a pair as serviceable as thine. — 
No palsy in them. 

46 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

PRINCE 

But the spirit's fatigue 
May for a time oppress the lucid vision. 

KING 

I tell thee I can see as well as thou; 

And were there any falseness in a man, 

Though he were mine own child, I should espy 

it. 
I '11 put my sight to the test before you all. 
Lady, thy finest, thy most tenuous needle! 
And now a thread, the slenderest filament 
Thou hast. If quickly through this needle's 

eye 
My hand persuade the silken thread to travel. 
Wilt thou still hold me purblind.? 

{He attempts to thread the needle.) 

Nay, I cannot! 
It is this wan, blear, and untimely darkness 
Baffles mine eyes. 

PRINCE 

Strange, he should talk of darkness, 
When all above us is perfect blue and gold. 
And there is not a speck upon the day. 



47 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

KING 

{looking out upon the garden) 
Still darker. It is that great silent moment 
When stands the packed and loaded storm, In 

doubt 
Whether to hurl the thunderstone or no. 
The massy blackness builds itself as a wall, 
With towers that topple upon us; and there are 

faces, 
Puckering enormous brows. Cannot a man 
Cherish a cedar and watch over it. 
And ravel up his heartstrings with its fibres, 
But soon the very heavens must seek it out 
With an especial malice, to work its ruin."* 
Stay, thunder, in thy caverns! Or burst forth, 
And mow down all the forests of the world 
With thy hot scythe, so thou but spare these 

boughs. 
Whereon the fate of Kings yet unconcelved 
Trembles. Ah, now the storm breaks from its 

moorings. 
And the forked fury with its jagged leap 
Already is on us. It strikes the tree: the cedar 
Is riven to its anguished roots — it falls asunder. 
Crashing unto the earth, and bears us with it. 
Pulled from our height of place and royal station 

48 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

For ever. Now am I a King no more, 

And thou indeed art a King's son no more, 

And thou — thou art queenly still, but Queen no 

more. 
Thy hand, — here will I rest a little. 
{He totters into a chair ^ 

Tear off 
This purple lie: we are nothing now — or only 
A proverb of the unstableness of the earth 
Beneath the feet of princes. 

QUEEN 

If he could 
But sleep awhile, that were the sovereign balsam. 
And waking he would be himself again. 

{A sound of distant trumpets. The King lifts his 
head and listens.) 

V E N O R A 

Hark! 

HESPERUS 

It is Volmar greeting us from the hill. 
{The King sinks into sleep.) 
49 



SCENE IV 

The same. Hesperus, booted and spurred, 
Venora. 

hesperus 
The hours go nimbly, — it is almost time 
That I were riding forth to meet the hero. 

{Enter Queen) 
How is my father? 

queen 

He is in deep sleep. 

HESPERUS 

His chiefest need! 

QUEEN 

I think that when he wakens. 
The thick cloud will have lifted from his brain. 

HESPERUS 

And he will be again the King we knew. 

{Enter an usher) 
50 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

USHER 

An officer of General Count Volmar's, 
Sent in advance of the returning forces, 
Craves access to this presence. 

HESPERUS 

Let him in. 
{Enter Hilderic) 
Is it not Hilderic? 

HILDERIC 

It is, my lord. 

HESPERUS 

A brave and skilful soldier. Thou art welcome. 

HILDERIC 

The General, who will soon be at the gates, 
Hath sent me on as bearer of this gift 
Of jewels, if her grace will not disdain it. 

(Servants bring in a treasure-chest^ 

{To Queen) Lord Volmar bade me say, that he 

himself 
Hath little learning in their qualities. 
And should there be among them things of nought, 
He begs you '11 pardon both the gift and giver. 

51 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

QUEEN 

Why, here are sapphires, rubles, emeralds — 

V E N O R A 

Calcedony, and sardonyx, and jacinth — 

QUEEN 

And every coveted gem the earth conceives. 
A lordly gift indeed ! 

HESPERUS 

Thou bringest jewels, 
But it is news we are most greedy of. 
Draw me a picture of the war, as thou 
Didst see it. 

HILDERIC 

Well, sir, it hath been a fierce 
And bitter strife. For at the outset, mark you, 
The enemy did so stubbornly resist. 
Even to the point of wild foolhardihood, 
That nought was left us but to throw away 
All mercy, and strike terror deep and wide. 
Therefore did we let loose those trusty hounds. 
Rapine and Fire; and ever as we marched. 
We lit our way with blazing farms and hamlets. 
But when we had put whole cities to the sword, 

52 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

And plentifully had sown the seed of famine 
By wasting all their fruitfullest land, the rest 
Was easy; for the people's spirit then 
Being broken, they looked on with listless gaze 
At their own ruin, and we now bring home 
The spoil of temples and of palaces, 
The choicest treasures of a once rich Kingdom, 
Leaving behind us peace, and a great stillness. 

V E N O R A 

On what a deep, wide base of other's sorrow 
Is built to-day our joy! 

H I L D E R I C 

Ay, madam, that 
Is true enough; but 't is the sort of truth 
To which we soldiers have to give the go-by. 

V E N O R A 

Yet surely there's a place in heroes' hearts, 
Where pity for the fall'n hath lodging? 

H I L D E R 1 C 

Madam, 
I have a little son, some five years old. 
As pretty a rogue as you should wish to see, 
Who has an army all of painted tin — 

S3 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

A standing army — till he knocks it down — 
And then, what pity has he for the fallen? 

HESPERUS 

Not much, I '11 swear. 

HILDERIC 

Well, as he plays his game, 
So play we ours — upon a larger table. 
But play it on a kingdom or a carpet, 
'T is still a game. 'T is the great Game of War. 

HESPERUS 

Which men play basely or nobly, as themselves 
Are base or noble. But take it as we will. 
Destruction is a destroying, slaughter a slaying. 
We cannot yet make war as we make love, 
Carry a citadel by a serenade, 
And ride into a fortress on a sigh. 
For war is war, its chronicles at their best 
Dreadful, and at their worst an inventory 
Of all that is in Hell. 

QUEEN 

Come, let us look 
Once more at these rare treasures. Amulets 

54 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

And signets — cameos and intaglios — 
Here's wealth enough to dower an emperor's 
daughter! 

HESPERUS 

Had Volmar flung a province in thy lap, 
'T were scarce a richer offering. 



V E N O R A 

Do but mark 
The wondrous workmanship! — stone after stone 
Carved into shapes of life, or overwrought 
With fancies, dreams, out of old Grecian story. 
Here Hermes binds Ixion to the wheel; 
Here is the yet unfreed Andromeda; 
Here Theseus slays the Minotaur; and there 
A naked soul quails before Rhadamanthus, 
The cold judge of the dead. On this is figured 
The maiden goddess of the bow and quiver; 
On this, Medea drives her dragon team. 
Lo, Psyche here, at last made one with Eros, 
And all her sorrows over. And on that sard 
You may behold Achilles, not in wrath. 
But with a brow of pity, as when he mourned 
Penthesilea. 



55 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

HESPERUS 

Carven in green jasper 
Here stands Actaeon, by his own hounds torn, 
As men are torn by their own fierce desires, 
Who hunt delight too madly. 

V E N O R A 

And upon 
This amethyst Arachne at her loom, 
Daring to match the perfect woof of Pallas, 
Weaves her own perfect woe. 

QUEEN 

Hardly a gem 
But tells some ancient tale — alas, how oft 
A mournful one! 

V E N O R A 

Here is a priceless stone 
So rudely wrought it must be wondrous old. 

HESPERUS 

Rather I think it but of our own day. 

For Art, being in its childhood barbarous ever. 

In feeble age grows barbarous again, 

Its second childhood reached. Yet here is not 

56 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

A jewel but might fittingly adorn, 

At to-night's feast, the lovliest brow or bosom. 

To-night, good Hilderic, thy great commander, 

And thou and all his captains, sup with us; 

And if the fare be worthy of the guests. 

This house will not have seen a goodlier banquet. 

HILDERIC 

We '11 bring brave appetites, I '11 take my oath on 't, 
And some of us a valiant thirst to boot. 

HESPERUS 

The jocund lamplight hath a happier secret 
In drawing heart to heart than the staid day, 
And under it we'll all meet joyously. 



57 



SCENE V 

The street in front of the palace, crowded with 
all sorts of persons in gay attire, amongst them 
Abbo of the Woods, conspicuous in sombre rustic 
garb. In the doorway of the palace, the Queen, 
Hesperus, Venora, Politian, Parmenio, and 
other courtiers and ladies. 

ABBO 

Nay, friend, grudge me not a little standing- 
room. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

But thou requirest so much of it. Thou art 
made on such a large pattern. 

ABBO 

Well, well, we are none of us built after our own 
planning — else thy nose would have been shorter. 

CHORUS OF VOICES 

Ha, ha, ha! 

58 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Who planned that coat of thine? 

FIRST CITIZEN 

In what King's reign flourished thy tailor? 

THIRD CITIZEN 

Did thy clothes come out of Noah's Ark? 

A B B O 

Now ye should all be grateful to me, seeing 
that my old homespun doth the better set off 
your finery. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Ay, to be sure it doth. And no doubt thy gar- 
ments were fashionable enough in Methuselah's 
time. 

FOURTH CITIZEN 

Come, let the man alone. He hath an honest 
country face. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Ay, and acres of honest country mud on his 
boots. 

59 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Hark, they are at hand. 

VOICES IN ANOTHER STREET 

Long live Volmar! Hail to the conqueror! 
Long life to Volmar! Hail, Volmar! 

{Enter Volmar riding at the head of his army 
accompafiied by Hesperus.) 

VOICES 

Hail, Volmar! Long life to the victor! Glory 
to Volmar and all his host! Hail to thee, Volmar! 
Honour to the conqueror! Hail, hail! 

(Volmar dismounts and is met on the palace steps 
by the King and Queen, and others of the royal 
household.) 

KING 

Welcome, most noble Volmar. You went from us 
Under a pelting hail of men's good wishes. 
To come back in the sunshine of their praise. 

volmar 
A very thunderous sunshine. Prince, so loud 
The people cheered us. 

60 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

HESPERUS 

And what sound on earth 
Matches the crash and peal of a people's joy? 

QUEEN 

Our welcome of you is in softer key, 

But not less truly 't is the heart that speaks it. 

KING 

Forgive me that I rode not forth to meet thee 
Beyond the walls, as I would fain have done; 
For gladly had I seen, from afar off, 
The mingled dust and glitter of thine approach, 
But the infirmities of this vext clay 
Here held me bound and captive. Take thou now 
The thanks that unto valour and lofty service 
Are due, and if I use a poor pale word 
For want of nobler, hear thou in it only 
Its wealthiest meaning. I am forced to drink 
Deep of inglorious rest, a thing I loathe — 
For in my youth they taught me that to rest 
Is to rust also; but to-night we revel, 
We feast together, thou and I and mine; 
And we will talk of all the battles thou 
Hast fought, and the great wars we both have 
known, 

6i 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

And the great warriors; and with memories such 
As these we '11 fledge the hours. 

V O L M A R 

Ay, sir, we'll make them 
Flee like your routed foes. And sweet, indeed 
To us that long have fed on soldiers' fare, 
Sweet will it be, to gather at thy table, 
Exchange the rough life of the camp and field 
For princely cheer, princely companionship, 
Forget the reek of carnage in the breath 
Of ladies' lips, and speed the night on wings 
Of wassail, and drink down the morning star 
In cups of triumph! 

A B B O 

Go drink of Hell's flood tide. 
{Plucks a dagger from his breast and flings himself 

on VOLMAR.) 

V O L M A R 

Off, off, vile peasant! 

{Is stabbed and falls. Shrieks of women. Wild 
commotion.) 

VOICES 

He is stabbed to death! 
Volmar is murdered! 

62 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

QUEEN 

Murdered — at our door? 

{The King sinks back and is supported by his 
courtiers.) 

HESPERUS 

Seize the assassin. 

{Leaps into the street, followed by Parmenio and 
others. Abbo is surrounded and stands ward- 
ing off attempts to overpower him.) 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Seize him. 

SECOND CITIZEN 

Show him no mercy. 

THIRD CITIZEN 

Despatch him. 

A SOLDIER 

Flay him first. 

FIRST CITIZEN 

Rend him in pieces. 
63 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

HESPERUS 

Stay! Harm him not! 

A SOLDIER 

O Prince, this churl has killed 
Thy noblest. 

HESPERUS 

{bending over Volmar's body) 
Are ye sure the wound is mortal? 

P A R M E N I O 

Perhaps it is not past the healer's skill. 

AN OFFICER 

Yea, 't is his heartblood overflows these steps. 

A SOLDIER 

Dead — dead, my lords. 

HESPERUS 

O miserable end! 
Thou shouldst have fall'n in splendour of battle, 

slain 
By some most glorious sword — and here thou 

liest, 
Thy flame of life put out by yon base hand. 
Who art thou, wretch? 

64 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

A B B O 

My name is Abbo. Where 
I dwelt, men call me Abbo of the Woods. 

HESPERUS 

Have I not somewhere looked upon thy face? 



I cannot tell. 



This man. 



ABBO 
A SOLDIER 

Suffer us now to slay 



HESPERUS 

Again I charge you, harm him not! 
Stand off from him. So great a murderer 
Shall fall not thus, beneath your casual steel. 
No single arm shall hew him down haphazard, 
Nor aught less than a realm and people be 
His executioner; for he shall have 
Justice, a thing more terrible to the wicked 
Than random vengeance. Take ye him away. 
And set strict guard on him. Deny him not 
The smallest customary privilege 
The law decrees for men yet uncondemned. 
Omit no form, fulfil each due observance, 

6s 



\^ 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

And let him, at the fitting place and time, 
Be brought to trial and judgment, that hereafter 
None shall have cause to say of us, 'They gave 
The violent up to violence, and delivered 
Unto the lawless them that broke the laws.' 
Take ye him hence and do no wrong to him. 



66 



SCENE VI 

The same. Enter from one side a countryman 
with his wife and child. From the other side 
Garlic. 

countryman 

Good master, is it true that there is to be no 
shows or plays or feasting? 

GARLIC 

Ay, the King hath in his infinite wisdom forbid 
them by reason of this great man's death. 

COUNTRYWOMAN 

We might as well ha' stayed at home. 

GARLIC 

Have ye travelled far? 

COUNTRYMAN 

A matter of twenty mile. 

GARLIC 

I had an uncle was a great traveller in his 
youth, but he made a true repentance and died 

67 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

a right godly man, much honoured as a cheese- 
monger. 

COUNTRYMAN 

Was not this a very great man indeed that was 
killed hereabouts? 

GARLIC 

Ay, he was a very great man. He was, as ye 
may say, an ensample to us all. Have ye not 
heard what a world of trouble and mischief he 
was ever stirring up.'' That is the sure sign of 
your truly great man. 

CHILD 

Mother, what is a great man like to look at? 

COUNTRYWOMAN 

Lord, child, how should I know, that never 
saw one? 

CHILD 

I should fear to meet one on a dark night. 

GARLIC 

When I think upon such greatness as was his, 
I seem in mine own eyes to be scarce more than 
an ordinary mortal. Were ye never here before? 

68 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

COUNTRYWOMAN 

Never in all our days. 

GARLIC 

There is much ye might see with profit. Yonder, 
now, is our famous jail, and if ye go round by 
the northeast side ye will espy the gallows. A 
nobler gallows you could not wish for. 

COUNTRYWOMAN 

We had a most fair prospect of it as we came by. 

GARLIC 

Well, I must now bid you good-day. See 
that ye fall not among evil company. These be 
graceless times and there is fearful regeneracy 
around us. 

(Exit) 

COUNTRYMAN AND COUNTRYWOMAN 

Good-day, good master. 
(Enter from opposite sides Brasidas and a Citizen) 

BRASIDAS 

All is in readiness. You will not forget the hour.'' 

69 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

CITIZEN 

God forbid. 

(Exit) 

B R A S I D A S 

(to the countryfolk) 
Have ye any friends in this city that could 
protect you from harm if need were? 

COUNTRYMAN 

Nay, sir, we know not a soul. 

B R A S I D A S 

There may be tumults. If you are wise, you 
will go back to your village. I counsel you for 
your good. 

COUNTRYMAN 

Sir, I am sure thou dost. We will go back 
to-night. I would we were home now on our 
farmstead. 

{Exeunt country people) 

BRASIDAS 

Good simple folk, what mummery and trumpery 
they come hither to gaze at! and at home they 
have the great pageant of the harvest, and all 
the sweetness of the earth at their doors. 

70 



SCENE VII 

The same. Night-time. Enter Brasidas near 
the prison. He knocks at a barred window. 

BRASIDAS 

What tidings? 

{The window is slightly opened and a light flashed 
on his face.) 

VOICE WITHIN 

Is it Brasidas? 



BRASIDAS 



VOICE 

The flax field is in flower. 



'T is he. 



BRASIDAS 

Goodnight. 

VOICE 

Goodnight. 
71 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

BRASIDAS 

So all is well. He hath the signal-word 
At his tongue's tip. And yet was that the voice 
I thought to hear? Yes, all is well. And soon 
My sworn and faithful will have gathered to me, 
And by connivance of the friend within, 
Long ere the dawn, this fortress of foul night. 
This house of groans, this place of shuddering, 
Will be delivered up into our hands, 
With all its secret archives, that will show 
Tyranny with her gorgeous vesture off, 
Her very self, stripped to her soul. And yet, 
Did not the voice sound unfamiliar.^ 
No, all is well; misgivings must not now 
Trammel the hot wheels of Resolve, when fate 
Hangs on a filament of gossamer. 
It is the cavernous and deep-mouthed night, 
That gives unto all voices its own accent. 

(Enter Zoraya, going towards the palace steps. 
Brasidas conceals himself in shadow.) 

ZORAYA 

Here was it done, here was he taken and slain. 
They have not even washed the blood away. 
Or is it the red hue of porphyry 

72 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

That under this perverting and sick light 
Can mock mine eyes? Nay, it is blood itself, 
Haunting these steps. But Oh, thou murdered 

man, 
It was by far, far redder steps than these 
That thou didst climb to what men take for 

greatness. 
Thou wert more cruel than the forest fire, 
Thou wert more callous than the lean-lipped sea. 
And thou didst climb and climb as a sleep-walker 
May climb a mountain knowing not it is Etna 
Till headlong down its sulphurous throat he falls. 
I hear a step. Is 't Brasidas.'' 

B R A S I D A S 

None other. 

Z O R A Y A 

Friend, whatsoever scheme or undertaking 
Thou hast in hand, attempt not on this night 
To shape it to a deed. 

B R A S I D A S 

How hast thou heard,'* 
To none hath it been breathed, save them that 

were 
To act with me. 

73 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Z O R A Y A 

No matter how I know, 
Or what I know. But if thou should'st proceed 
With what thou did'st intend, expect disaster. 

B R A S I D A S 

Whence, then, does hidden danger threaten? 

Z O R A Y A 

Enough 
That something thou would'st war against is strong 
To-night, and watchful. What indeed it is 
I do but dimly see. It rises like 
A crag that hurls back a besieging wave. 

BRASIDAS 

I know thee full of truth as of strange foresight, 
And this thy warning chimes with mine own 

doubts. 
That were but now with difficulty stilled. 
If I put off this enterprise, what then.'' 

Z O R A Y A 

Have thou a little patience. Let time work. 
Slowly the spirit of the world itself 

74 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Is bringing to the birth all thou did'st dream, 
And with thee or without thee shall thy cause 
Prevail. 

B R A s I D A s 

My cause is nothing less than man's. 

Z O R A Y A 

Then it must conquer. 

B R A S I D A S 

Unless Evil have 
Indeed celestial warrant, and gross wrong 
Be something at which deity itself 
Connives. But that I '11 ne'er believe. — Zoraya, 
There's not much passes within palace walls 
But thou dost know it — or so runs the rumour: 
What hast thou heard to-night touching the King.'' 

ZORAYA 

At first, when he looked on at Volmar's death, 
Horror quite smote him down; but shaking off 
His weakness like a mantle, he rose as though 
Calamity had girded up and braced him, 
Such quick rebound of spirit he hath. 



75 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

B R A S I D A S 

Some say 
He carries, in a ring upon his finger, 
Drops of a wondrous potion, a quintessence 
Not to be used save in extremity, 
But able to call back the escaping life 
Even when in act to fly. 

Z O R A Y A 

And some declare 
It hath quite opposite virtue. 

BRASIDAS 

Ah ! — who knows f 
Tell me one other thing. In these last days 
Do any tidings of my father reach thee.^ 

Z O R A Y A 

He is no more in prison. This very morn 
He was set free, by one who soon or late 
Does from these corporal bonds enlarge us all. 

BRASIDAS 

What, is my father dead.^ Dead in a dungeon! 

(J great bell tolls the hour of one.) 
76 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Z O R A Y A 

That was the voice of the new day. Farewell. 
{Exit Zoraya) 

BRASIDAS 

Farewell. The new day. It was time the old 
Went to its rest. The new day — the new day! 



77 



SCENE VIII 

A Court of Justice. Petrus in the judgment 
seat. Abbo of the Woods arraigned before him. 
The Queen, Venora, and others sitting as spec- 
tators. Guards, scribes, officials. At the back of 
the Court the populace. 

PETRUS 

The crime, which with dehberate fell intent, 

Before a multitude of witnesses. 

You did notoriously commit, and here 

Acknowledge by your own mouth without shame, 

Is one, the like whereof hath not been seen 

On this our soil, within men's memory. 

You took your victim, the most noble Volmar, 

All unawares, in the great hour that crowned 

His glorious life, and slew him on the steps 

Of the King's palace, with the same stroke 

wounding 
The heart of a whole people. 

{Enter Hesperus) 
78 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

From that hour 
Till now, all justice and all fairness have 
Been shown to you. Nothing which might avail 

you, 
In this your trial, hath been to you denied. 
You have been proffered, and you did refuse, 
The services of one who, by vocation 
A pleader at the Bar, would have set forth 
Whatever might be urged in your behoof. 
With suasive art and skill. Nought now remains 
But to pass judgment on you, and apportion 
Your penalty to the greatness of that guilt, 
Which in its full height stands before the world. 
Manifest to all men's eyes. 

HESPERUS 

Most learned Judge, 
I crave indulgence for what well might seem 
A lawless trespass upon this tribunal. 
No least infringement of its sanctity 
Do I intend. Indeed, though I have ne'er 
Sat amid those who practise in our courts. 
Yet have I, without favour, or the relaxing 
Of due and rigorous tests, attained to hold 
A mastership and doctorate in our laws. 
Such as do fully entitle me, if so 

79 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

I list, to take my stand with professed pleaders, 
The brotherhood of the forensic robe- 
Nay, in the quality of an advocate. 
Not else, do I claim audience in this court; 
And though it be at the eleventh hour, 
And almost one can see the headsman's finger 
Trying the axe, I call for stay of sentence, 
Till I can bring before you certain matter 
Unbroached yet in this trial, but none the less 
Most pertinent to the issue. 

P E T R u s 

At your desire 
Judgment shall stand deferred, and aught you 

say 
Shall here be gravely pondered. 

HESPERUS 

Prisoner, 
What King is he whom thou dost serve.? 

A B B O 

King Othgar, 
Thine enemy. 

HESPERUS 

In whose land wert thou born.'* 
80 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

A B B O 

King Othgar's land, which ye made war upon. 

HESPERUS 

Where was thy dwelling? 

A B B O 

In the forest, near 
The boundaries where King Othgar's land meets 
thine. 

HESPERUS 

(to the Judge) 

Now, as it chances, tidings which to-day 
Have reached us from those confines make it plain 
That, notwithstanding Volmar's victories, 
A state of war hath never truly ceased. 
Still on the frontier do its smouldering embers 
Flash daily Into angry life, and though 
The enemy's hosts in battle on battle were quelled. 
Their Kingdom, as a Kingdom, ne'er did make 
Formal submission, nor hath any pact 
Or treaty of peace been signed, and, in a word, 
A state of war still to this hour obtains; 
Whence I contend that this man's act, the slaying 
Of his own countrymen's arch-enemy, 

8i 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Was in its essence a pure act of war, 
Entitling him to no more grievous usage 
Than all those captives of our arms receive, 
Whom we condemn to labour in the mines 
Or at the galleys. 



p E T R u s 

I must count your plea 
As but a specious one. Nought hath been here 
Adduced in proof that this man's action flowed 
From any founts akin to public virtue 
Or patriot zeal. You give to his deed a colour 
Which its own doer perchance would disavow. 



HESPERUS 

{to Abbo) 
What moved thee to the deed.^ Tell unto us 
Its story. 

ABBO 

On that border, where till now 
My dwelling was, there grew I up from birth, 
And lived by hunting of great forest beasts. 
And selling of their furs, and tusks, and hides. 
Alone I dwelt, save that my child, my daughter, 
A damsel ripening unto womanhood, 

82 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Dwelt with me. And it came to pass, when first 
Ye marched against my country, that your armies 
Were thereabouts encamped a little while; 
And one day, toward eventide, the maiden, 
My daughter, by rude hands laid hold upon, 
Was taken and carried unto Volmar's tent. 
That he might have his will with her, and there. 
Upon that night, he forced her to abide. 
And in the morn she was cast out among 
The soldiers, to be slave to any man's 
Desire. This was I told by one that knew. 
But ere another sun went down upon them 
They found her body, slain by her own hand, 
For she and Shame could not live on together. 
And in the woods I abode, and when your hosts 
Marched back that way, with the camp-followers 
I mixed unknown, and with them hitherward 
I came. And God was good to me. He gave 
Into these hands the man they hungered for; 
And I did take and slay him in his pride. 
And could I slay him a thousand times again. 
That would I do. 



p E T R u s 

Thus is the prisoner's act. 
Save in the greatness of the victim, seen 

83 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

To stand with common crimesof privatevengeance. 
As for his private wrongs, and whether these 
Do in some measure palliate his offence, 
With all such questions I am unconcerned. 
I sit not here to deal in casuistry. 
But to administer the law. His crime 
Was open and flagrant, and if I myself 
Did inwardly incline to pardon him, 
I could not. The prerogative of pardon 
Dwells with the King alone. 



HESPERUS 

Then to the King 
I make appeal. 

KING 

Thou might'st, with as good fortune, 
Appeal to the dead hero, that lies stark 
In his yet unclosed cofhn, as to me. 



V E N O R A 

O King, remember this man's mighty woe. 



QUEEN 

If thou had'st but a daughter of thine own — 

84 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

V E N O R A 

(throwing herself at his feet) 
Thou hast! for this thy son and I are wedded, 
Though never until now told we the world. 

KING 

What, secret spousals? When a King's son mates, 
His bride should be the daughter of a King. 
Yet never saw I in thee aught unlovely, 
Or aught unwomanlike — or any fault 
Save what is common to all thy sex, for being 
Women, ye think a Kingdom can be swayed 
By women's tears — ye set a peasant's wrongs, 
And the light handling of a country wench, 
Above a mourning realm. 

QUEEN 

Girl, with this kiss 
A queen makes thee her daughter. King, thy wife, 
Thy son, thy daughter, sue for this man's pardon. 
Have pity, have pity upon him. 

KING 

Let pity know 
Its place and season. Pity gone astray 
Hath led men blindfold to the wilderness, 
Whither I '11 follow it not. This miscreant's hand 

85 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Hath robbed me of a man whose worth to me 
Was that of armies. If I pardon him, 
May Heaven in anger — 

HESPERUS 

Oh, speak not some wild word 
Thou 'It wish to unsay. 

KING 

You Powers, whate'er ye are. 
That weigh us in your balance — if I show 
Mercy unto this murderer, straightway then 
Visit me with your signal malediction, 
And let some visible stroke of instant fate 
Wither me into ashes, even here 
Where now I stand. 

HESPERUS 

My task was hard before, 
And in a moment it is made thrice harder; 
But come what may I will not flinch from it. 
Prisoner, I now must lead thy memory back 
Unto a certain morn, seven years ago, 
When all that border-forest round thy dwelling 
Rang with the hunters' bugles. On that day. 
There, in a thicket, and by chance divided 
From his companions, lay a stripling, gored 

86 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Deep by some savage tusk, and bleeding nigh 
To death. And thou did'st find and bear him 

thence 
Unto thy dweUing, and did'st dress his wound, 
And with a rough but heartening wine thou did'st 
Bring back the Hfe that else had ebbed too far. 
Hast thou a recollection of his face.^ 

A B B O 

'T was strangely like thine own. 

KING 

(to Hesperus) 

The man dissembles. 
Thou art mistaken in him — he does but catch 
At the offered cue, and play up to thy thought. 

HESPERUS 

{to Abbo) 
Then with returning breath I bade thee ask 
Whate'er thou would'st in recompense, but thou, 
Who knewest not who I was, would'st only take 
A trivial gift, a thing of little price. 

ABBO 

Not so — it was thy jewelled hunting horn. 

87 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

HESPERUS 

Whereon I bade thee blow a blast to call 

My comrades, which thou did'st; but when they 

came 
Thou wert not to be found, and they declared 
That something either less or more than human 
Had tended me and vanished. 

P E T R u s 
(to Abbo) 

Hast thou still 
That hunting horn? 

ABBO 

In my wood hut it lies, 
But long ago I plucked from it the gems, 
And sold them, being in need — two greenish 

stones. 
With figures cut upon them. One did seem 
A huntress, and the other was a stag 
Torn down by hounds. 

HESPERUS 

Diana one — the other 
Actaeon, fabled to have been transformed 
Into that antlered shape. Here are some gems 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

Whereon those very figures that you speak of 
Are, with a varying fancy, deftly carven. 
Canst thou point out the two, if here they be, 
Which from that horn thou sever'dst? This is 
one — 

A B B o 

(examining the gems) 
That is the other. 

HESPERUS 

True. These two alone 
Are portion of that gift which Volmar gave 
Unto the Queen — those jewels brought by him 
From this man's country; and these two I well 
Remember, as having once been set in gold 
On that same bugle of mine. 

KING 

Woe, woe is me! 

VOICES OF THE POPULACE 

Pardon the man. Release him. Let him go. 

KING 

Have I not called on Heaven to smite me down 
If I should show him mercy .^ 

89 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

VOICES 

Set him free. 
He saved thy son. 

KING 

The dread Power I invoked 
Is swift to take us at our word, and bind us 
To the letter of our contracts. 

HESPERUS 

King, my father, — 
God is more just than thou dost picture Him. 
Dost thou suppose He is a bartering God, 
That makes a profit out of our poor folly. 
Alert to seize on our unwariness. 
To catch us tripping and stickle for a price .^ 
And should'st thou dare to do a worthy thing, 
Dost thou imagine that the august Begetter 
Of all this world shall then fall short of thee 
In righteous dealing.'' 

KING 

He hath me in His hold, 

And thou, who art young, know'st not how hard 

it is 

To slip out of a bargain made with Heaven. 

90 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

VOICES 

Pardon the man. Free him. He saved thy son. 
_ {Enter among the populace zoraya) 

Z O R A Y A 

Hear me, King! There is one only way 
For thee to cut this knot. Lay down thy King- 
ship; 
Then shall a King succeed, who hath not yet 
Pledged him to cast out Mercy, but will rather 
Beckon her to an almost equal seat 
Beside great Justice. 

VOICES 

A word in season. Ay, 
A wise word. Abdicate. Uncrown thyself. 

KING 

Ye cannot be as weary of your King 
As he is weary of Kinghood. I will do 
Your bidding. I am very humble now. 
See, I make way for another — for a King 
Not bound, like me, by a rash covenant 
With the exacting skies. 

{He breaks the seal of his ring, which he places to 
his lips. He staggers and sinks back.) 
91 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

QUEEN 

O help, ere he 
Be gone! Help! 

V E N o R A 

Then the ring had poison in it! 

KING 

He whom I sent for loiters not, but hither 
Rides at full speed. Wife, thou didst ever have 
Great patience with me. 

HESPERUS 

Can we do nought at all 
To ease thy going hence.'' 

KING 

There's nothing needed. 
After this tangled life, death seems a thing 
Most excellently simple. 

(Dies) 

HESPERUS 

He is dead. 
He who alive had much infirmity 
Hath strongly laid life down. Whate'er his faults, 

92 



THE HERALDS OF THE DAWN 

We'll think them not himself, but outermost 
Apparel only, and fold them all away 
In silence. As for thee, who standest there 
And seest thy vengeance full and perfected, 
The King alone could pardon thee, and I 
Am henceforth King. Take then from me for- 
giveness. 
And go thou back to thine own land in peace. 



THE END 



93 



MAR 9 1912 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONG 

II' If 1 1 11 II II III 



RESS 



III 11 III II!! II 



014 153 023 9 i? 



ill 



